The Balrog's Wife
by Laira Evans
Summary: Something else came out of Moria, and the with the death of the Ringbearer the fate of Middle Earth is forever changed.
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Lord of the Rings, or any other series I might add into this.**_

I wonder sometimes, how long it has been. Every day, if they could be called such, I brushed my hand over my face. I would feel for creases, little wrinkles that would tell me I had aged. Every time I was forced to admit that my cheeks were as smooth as ever, would tell myself that my mind was playing tricks. I could not have been down here for years, surely, traveling upwards. Of course it was only months, for no one could be so deep beneath the Earth that it took decades to reach the surface.

And so I trekked onwards, in a body unfamiliar to me and bright flame of energy that lights my being like a beacon to the denizens of this dark hell. Demons of fire and shadow prowled the Deep, accompanied by fell creatures loathsome and foul to my senses. Great worms took the unwary, burrowing after vibrations like sharks to blood. Lizards with sizes to rival houses made their home as well, snakes like dragons dragging off giants to feed their flame-filled gullets.

The key to my escape came quite suddenly.

The drums of the goblin-kind pounded through the caverns and I followed in their wake. Something had disturbed them, something different. This was no party, but a joyous hunt. After so many interminable nights spent in these endless tunnels, I was thirsty for any sort of entertainment. They could tell I was following them, I made little effort to hide myself, but it was the rare goblin that would try me while sleeping, let alone attack me while awake. A cave troll lumbered along with them, a broken chain hanging from a collar around its neck. Stranger than their little war party, however, was this feeling of weightlessness that clung to me. The weight of the earth above me felt lighter here, as if at any moment it might just fly away. It was exhilarating.

* * *

Frodo thought he was the first one to see her enter, save perhaps for Gandalf. There was truly no telling what that old wizard knew. Fear took his heart as flames licked along her bare skin. It was not fear for her, but of her. Suddenly she shifted, hands blurring as they tore through armor and orc-flesh alike. The ring was on his hand before he knew it, but his vision of that realm where spirits walked brought no comfort.

Legolas glowed in the darkness of this realm, limned as he was with the light of his soul. Gandalf was filled with white fire, carefully contained. But she, she was a roaring tempest of blue flame. All the rest were merely shadows. Every sweep of her hand sent them scattering, orc after orc falling as the smell of burnt flesh filled the air. The cave troll fell too, as she leapt atop its shoulder and slashed at its neck with a dagger three times swiftly, a burning hand darting in to complete the deed. Then her eyes turned towards him and he wondered if he was just a shadow to her as well. She blurred towards him, and then he was devoured by flames.

* * *

I paused in my path of slaughter, the burning corpse of the small creature fading back into visibility at my feet. My gaze was captured by a thing I had almost lost hope of ever seeing again. It was a window. And through it the impossible, true sunlight. Bounced between the rocks there was not a glimmer of true sky in my view, but it was more than I had ever seen of it with these eyes I now wore. The flames that lit my hair and skin slowly faded as I stared, enraptured. Dimly I felt my stolen dagger drip from my hand, melted into slag.

"You killed him! You killed Master Frodo!"

I frowned, forcing myself to look away from the window, flames lighting once more as I felt sparks of harmful intent behind me. Eight males stood before me, half of them seemingly human, though one was more beautiful than the rest. Three of the small ones brandished weapons, held back by a staff held by a man with a strange pointed hat. It had been long since I had any concern for modesty, but I felt a glimmer of it now. "You speak the goblin-tongue?"

"It is more that they speak ours," said the black-haired one.

"I must say, it is rare that any creature of this place dares look at me so brazenly. But you are not of this place, are you. Tell me how to reach the surface and I will let you live."

The most slender of the bunch drew his bow tighter at that, but I had dodged many an arrow before. His would likely be swifter than most, but as long as it was only one at a time there would be little issue. His pointed ears though, that made me wonder. "Tell me," asked the greybeard, "young elleth, why did you kill the hobbit?"

"He stank of hatred and corruption," I replied, the answer was entirely obvious in my mind. "If he was your ally then you are no friends of mine." That _hobbit_, as they called it, had been harder to kill than all the rest. For a moment some force at his control had resisted me, even lashed me with dark flames, though it did little. His armor, however, was another matter. It had not melted or even softened against my flames. Its silvery-steel appearance was pleasing to the eye as well. If ever they turned their weapons from me, I would be quick to make it my own.

His head was bowed. "I am called Gandalf. Come with us if you like, we have no more time to tarry here."

"You're just going to let her join up with us? She killed Frodo!"

"**Enough**, Sam, it was an unfortunate mistake. It was not Frodo she sensed, but the Ring. Will you take up his burden?"

The other two hobbits spluttered as Sam moved forward, tears glistening on his cheeks as he plucked a golden ring from the corpse. As if it were a living thing, I could feel it's malevolent eye upon me. Even several feet away it was beginning to make me nauseous, and there were few things in the world that could do that to me any more. "You should be wary of touching such a thing. It means no good to any living thing, I think." They said nothing, leaving the room swiftly. Only the slender blonde hung behind.

"My name is Legolas, please, take this."

It was a cloak. He kept his eyes averted from my nakedness as he handed it to me, apparently unconcerned that I was so recently an enemy. "No thanks." I nearly laughed as he blanched, seeing me strip the mithril vest from the hobbit. I had done far worse things to survive in times past. It fit surprisingly well, considering. Though taller, I was a trifle thinner than the halfling, and the hem of the chainmail came down almost to mid thigh. On Frodo it had nearly reached his knees. I trotted after the group, Legolas running beside me, the mithril surprisingly silent. As the goblins closed in on us I couldn't help but ask, "What does 'elleth' mean?"

Legolas gave me a curious look. "Elf maiden. Do you not recognize it? How long have you been in the mines?"

"How long? All I can say is that I have not aged. Beyond that I truly do not know." Our group was surrounded now by countless goblins, climbing up from every crack and crevice.

"My lady, you are immortal. That tells me nothing at all."

My laughter filled the great hall, sending our foes sliding back at a step. They, at least, knew my reputation. "Immortality, what a sick joke." Perhaps I had been down here for decades after all. It was then that I recognized a very unique tattoo. The men had formed a circle, rather foolishly built with me at the center. Pushing past them I giggled as the goblins nearly scattered, but held firm. "Yurek. Tell your chieftain Mele-nek that if a single one of my companions is harmed I will kill him myself."

"I serve Shan-ur now! He demands your head."

'_Son of a bitch.' _

In what could have been my final moments, and almost certainly theirs, our salvation came in a most unexpected form. In moments all of the goblins and their surface-kin, the orcs, had fled. The dark flame of Ankiir lit the tunnel behind us. He had hounded me for years, ever forcing me downwards into the Deep. He was the reason I had never convinced a goblin to show me to the surface. I killed cleanly, more or less. He had the patience to torture his prey for days, if not longer.

"We need to run, and quickly."

Gandalf apparently agreed. "Run! This foe is beyond any of you."

We made it across the first gorge just in time, the stairs falling behind us. I wonder if we would have made it in time had I not jumped first, spurring on the men. Archers took potshots at us as we ran from the balrog, Legolas shooting back at them as we ran.

Then came the bridge. It was insanity. Wizard though he apparently was, given his attempt to magically lock one door we had passed, how he could he hope to match the fires of Ankiir. But match it he did. "The dark flame will not avail you!" Though light stood behind me, I stepped closer. I had seen many wondrous things in the Deep, dark and terrible though they were, but this was something beyond my imagination. "You – shall not – pass!"

Had I the time, I would have laughed. That was his endgame? Destroy the bridge? As if that would stop a balrog. I sprinted forward, pulling the wizard away just as a whip of fire struck towards him. Ankiir roared below, ground shaking as his claws dug against the side of the ravine, slowing his descent. With the walls so close, he couldn't fly, but he wouldn't be long in climbing after us. "Come, you fool wizard, we must flee. While we still can." And then, some ten steps later, as arrows pinged off the rocks around us, I saw a sight I never thought I would see again.

"The sky..."

* * *

End Chapter 1

I'm likely to get a reputation for killing off the main character in my stories at this rate. Well, I have some relatively decent ideas for continuing this. Not sure exactly who the elf maiden is in this yet. Either it will be an insert of some college shmuck and will be to some extent technology based, or I'll take a character from a shounen series and make it more single-combat super-powers based. Tune in next time for Galadriel.


	2. Chapter 2

The world stretched on endlessly, making me feel as small as an ant. I crouched, half willing myself back into the ground, where I would not feel as if I were falling upwards.

"We should hurry, these hills will be crawling with orcs by nightfall." The black-haired man sheathed his sword, taking a long swig of water as he brushed back his sweat-mussed locks.

"The hobbits are exhausted, and Frodo is lost. Can you not at least give them a moment to grieve?" Grieve, what a strange word. The goblins had never spoken it, but it was easy enough to understand the word from context.

"We dare not tarry," said Gandalf. "Carry them, if they cannot walk. With the balrog leading them, the orcs may yet gain the courage to face us in sunlight." As if to underscore his point, another rumble shook the ground. "Fly, you fools!"

And again we were running. I wasn't sure why I still followed them, besides there being little pressing reason not to. My whole goal for however long I had been in this world had been to reach the surface. Now that I was finally here, I truly wasn't certain where to go next. I think I had still entertained hope that I was just in some strange pocket of the Earth. That if I could just reach the surface, everything would be normal again, and the convenience of modern appliances would once again be mine. Instead I was confronted with unshaven warriors in homespun cloth carrying iron swords. It was a foolish hope anyways, and I doubt a wizard of such small power could magically transport me back home. Besides, even if they weren't all in their fifties now, it wasn't as if any would recognize me. In truth, after so long, I couldn't even remember my original face. I'd call it my real face, but dwelling on such thoughts was quick to drive one mad. I am who I am now, and that would have to do.

"These woods," I whispered, marveling at their power. They felt very nearly sentient.

Legolas, his pointed ears apparently just as adept as my own pair, caught my whisper. "This is Lothlorien, the home of the Lady Galadriel." He tripped. From a hobbit this would have been little concern, but from the graceful elf it was exceedingly out of the ordinary, even if he was carrying Pippin. Or perhaps Merry. Their introduction as we ran had been a little confusing. "Do you feel it? Something dark approaches."

"It is the balrog," proclaimed Gandalf. "He hunts us from beneath the earth. Quickly now, it is not much further." The tranquility of the woods swept over us like a blanket. I let heat simmer beneath my skin as we continued inwards. It was not the first time I had felt such an aura. They were always false promises, a pleasing facade over a devouring maw.

The air thundered as the balrog emerged from the earth, striking against the edge of the forest. Wind and green light struck back against him, and for now, at least, his passage was stayed. The hobbits, set to their own feet, had found new vitality. Our feet were less sure here, mine included, so foreign were the roots to me, but still we moved quickly. We were perhaps a mile deep within the woods before they met us with with steel and arrows, drawn to the ear.

"You're right, Legolas. I really do look remarkably like an elf. The goblins had another word for me, but perhaps it meant the same. I do not sense it within you, but can you create flame like I can?"

"I do not think this the time or the place, my lady."

Perhaps he was right. The elf captain seemed little amused. "You bring great evil with you. You shall go no further."

I sidled closer to Gandalf, speaking softly, "Is he referring to the balrog or that _thing_ the hobbit carries?" As I had half expected, the elves heard me quite clearly.

"A balrog, surely you must jest." But a tinkling wind blew past us and suddenly he was filled with understanding. A moment later I realized the true threat here, and it was not their arrows. Something brushed against my mind, setting subtle fishhooks as it dug deeper. My companions and the elven guards alike jumped back as I burst into flames.

I stilled my mind, letting only a cool rage ripple through me as I burned hotter and hotter, until my hair became flame entire. "Out of my mind, witch." Twigs and fallen leaves lit beneath me, feeding me further. "Or are you so powerful that you can repel the balrog while your forest burns from within?"

Carried by magic, Galadriel's voice reached us a moment later as the tendril's of her power, already battered by my flames, withdrew from my senses. "_Let them pass," _she commanded. And, despite obvious doubts, the elf captain did so. Many eyes watched me warily as I slowly cooled, the leaves beneath me quickly extinguished due to the influence of the forest. Gandalf, however, seemed to see deeper than the others. "My lady," he said, "never have I seen one such as you on Middle Earth, and I have lived through many an age."

"Is immortality so common a thing in this world?" None answered, but it mattered little. I hadn't really meant to say it aloud anyways. It had been a long time since I had traveled in the company of others for so long. Orcs, after all, did not good traveling companions make.

As we continued our march, I pondered the power of the sorceress. It was a rare thing to meet beings with telepathy even in the darkest parts of the Deep, and none were so powerful as she to overcome my defenses so readily. I would be on guard against any future intrusions, but it still left my skin crawling to think I would head any closer to her, further into her domain. I had lost my body long ago, but my mind was still my own.

Well, Ankiir wouldn't be stopping anytime soon. And the moment the will of the forest broke before him, the orcs would be quick to take advantage. I'd heard stories of the inhabitants of this forest, unless there was more than one forest with leaves of gold. The hate the orcs felt for them had filled every word to dripping. Their vengeance would be swift and without mercy.

Galadriel wouldn't have time to spare for me for much longer.

* * *

Well, two name changes later, here's chapter two. Despite setting a new record for lowest first chapter views ever (28, compared to the normal 4-700) I decided to continue it. Thanks go to shadowward and thejackle123 for their support.

Oh, good news. Just as I'm posting this I think I figured out who the main character will be. It won't be a self-insert after all.


End file.
